This invention relates to balers for forming round bales of crop material, and more particularly to a wide pickup and feeding system for a round baler.
A conventional round baler includes a pickup mechanism which lifts crop material from the ground and supplies the crop material rearwardly to the inlet of a bale-forming chamber. Typically, the baler includes a series of side-by-side moving belts, which form the crop material into a round bale in a manner as is known. The crop inlet has a width corresponding to the width of the bale formed within the bale-forming chamber. Crop material is typically supplied by the pickup mechanism to the baler inlet from windrows of crop material formed on the ground in a conventional manner, such as by a mower or mower conditioner.
In some applications, crop windrows are formed using wide mowers or mower conditioners, which produce a windrow having a width greater than the width of the crop inlet of the baler. While the windrow width can be reduced in a subsequent operation, such as by raking, this entails an additional operation and equipment and is not an optimal solution.
A more desirable solution is to increase the width of the crop material pickup mechanism of the baler, such that the pickup mechanism has a width which equals or exceeds the width of the windrow. However, this solution results in crop material being supplied to a location outwardly of the crop inlet, such that the crop material supplied by the outer portions of the pickup mechanism must be transported inwardly to the baler inlet. A typical solution for moving crop material inwardly involves use of a single overshot-type stub auger which transports the crop material inwardly. This type of system works to move the crop material inwardly, but cannot accommodate large volumes of crop material.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a crop material feeding and directing system for an agricultural implement such as a round baler, in which the crop material is supplied to a location outwardly of a crop inlet defined by the implement. It is a further object of the invention to provide such a system which incorporates components that feed the crop material inwardly and which also feed the crop material rearwardly into the crop inlet of the implement. Yet another object of the invention is to provide such a system which utilizes crop feeding and directing components which are oriented similarly to the remaining components of the implement, to simplify driving the crop feeding and directing components. A still further object of the invention is to provide such a system which is relatively simple in its components and operation, yet which is operable to effectively transport the crop material inwardly and is capable of handling large volumes of crop material, to feed the crop material into the crop inlet of the implement.
In accordance with the present invention, a crop material feeding system for an agricultural implement includes a rotatable roller member which extends across the crop inlet, and a pair of rotatable auger sections located outwardly of the rotatable roller member. The crop inlet of the agricultural implement defines spaced apart sides, and includes a pickup mechanism which is configured to supply crop material in alignment with the crop inlet and also to locations outwardly of one or both sides of the crop inlet. The rotatable auger sections are located outwardly of each side of the crop inlet to which crop material is supplied by the pickup mechanism, and are arranged such that an upper one of the auger sections is vertically offset above a lower one of the auger sections. Each lower auger section is substantially in alignment with the rotatable roller member, and the upper and lower auger sections are operable to feed crop material inwardly toward the crop inlet from a location outward of the side of the crop inlet.
The upper auger section is preferably located forwardly of the lower auger section, and the lower auger section may be in the form of an outward extension of the rotatable roller member. Auger flighting is secured to the outward extension of the rotatable roller member to form the lower auger section. The upper and lower auger sections preferably rotate in opposite directions such that each auger section tends to move crop material toward the opposite auger section, to xe2x80x9cpinchxe2x80x9d the crop material between the auger sections and to transport the crop material inwardly toward the side of the crop inlet. The upper auger section terminates in an inner end which is substantially in alignment with the side of the crop inlet, such that crop material is discharged from between the upper and lower auger sections directly into the side area of the crop inlet. To provide maximum width and symmetrical feeding of crop material to the crop inlet, the pickup mechanism is arranged to supply crop material outwardly of both sides of the crop inlet. Mirror image upper and lower auger sections are located outwardly of each side of the crop inlet, to transport crop material inwardly toward the crop inlet from the outer areas of the pickup mechanism.
The invention further contemplates a method of directing and feeding crop material to the crop inlet of an agricultural implement, substantially in accordance with the foregoing summary.
Various other features, objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from the following description taken together with the drawings.